Steering gear



Jan. 19, 1926.

' w 0. M. JACKSQN s'rnsame' GEAR Filed May 14, 1923 s sheets-sheet 1 flMJa cltson mvsu-roh AITORNEY WITNESSEJ Jan. 19,1926.

0 M. JACKSON STEERING GEAR Filed May 14, 1923 s sheets-spat 2 27 0. M Jackson INVENTOR WITNESSJ 0. M. JACKSON STEERING GEAR...

Filed May 14. 1923-; s sheets-sh et s Jan. 19 1926.

A-rromqnr Patented Jail. '19, 1926. p

1 cane To all whom it may concern.

Be it known thatI, Ov n MfJAoKso'm a citizen of the United States, residing at Jackson; in the county'of Jackson. andlState Michigam have. invented newend useful ilmprovements 1n Steering Gears, of Wl'l1Gl1' thefollowing is'a specification:

Ths invention.relates'to steering mecha--- nism for motor'vehicles andghas foritsiob:

WVhlCll use is u'nad'e of; steering which ineludes avrotatable s postBflirectly connected ject the provision of a novel eccentrically operated means for effecting steeri'ngwhereby use of the Well known different typesLo-f ear connections and-direct: connections will be eliminated, while at thegsame time steermg may be ei'lected moreeasily than with "the ordinary construction and with an ab: 7

sence of the usual troublesome, fatiguing and annoying lost "motion :which develops a'fter v, p w

' and-which is formed with 'a"'threadedv hole some use ofthe ordinary'l-typesofsteering gears.

important and :more' specific object is 1 the provision of aisteering mechanism including. a disk eccentrically mounted upon the steeringpost or rod and operatingwithin a shell connected with'the connecting'rod or steering armas the case may be.

An additional b'ject is the plfiVlSlOIlOfa j device of this character which will be, simple and inexpensive in "manufacture, easy to mstall, eflicient and durable in use and a'geni I ,Carr1ed I v shaft 18- is' 'a disk -21 which is, circular in vantages in view the invention consists in' the details of construction to behereinafter more fully described and claimed and 1l lu strated ;in* the accompanying drawings i in which y 5 is a section on the "2 2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a detail sideelevation showing' the connection of the-ordinary steering post with my device, o

, Figure 4 is an enlarged faceyiewof my v device removed, a r a f Figure 5, s a similar view thereof w th the cover plate removed, a

Figure 6 is across section on the line i 6 6 01'' Figure 4,

' an automobile of that Figure 7 is .a plan view of the chassis of ingsteermg means and'showingfmy device applied thereto,

which V p armi32iwhich is keyed or otherwise rigidly".

typehaving gear driv- Figure 8, is a sidetelevationof this struce ture; F1-gurei9 is across section on" the lme 599 of Fignre 'hn I .l vFigure lOolis a adetail sectionnon the line chassis 7 of v thefFOrd type of a that type; in

with connecting 7 rod- Q [which is in; turn connected-with oneof the steeringarms D.

Both arms areiof courseconnected by-acon nectingrod'E.

Itefernngmore particularly to the draw; mgsthe; letter A designat s the frame ofa In applying my invention 7 'machine,I provide; a bracket 15 -which"is receiving a bushingf-lfi throughiwhich is extension'iand shaft member and the, 'shoul suitably securedfat one side, olf theaframe" journaled the reducedend l7 o-fa ishort shaft 5-: 'member l S formed with a;key way 19.; The bushing 16 "is counter-bored ,to receivethe f so u i def, thus "defined-'1 prevents longitudinal i movement of the shaft member 18in one directionymovementin the otherdir'ection be-- ing preventediby a suitablenutr20. screwed ontoi, the threaded extremity of the. reduced extension, g a t by the intermediateportion of'the shape..an'd".whioh is formed. ofi center with a hole 22 receiving the shaft and projecting Figure "1 is a plan view of a .p-ortion -ojf* i gTQf affine 5 4 1110011qopposit sidesof;

which ar cover plates 25. [.The ring and Formed on the ring is a socket'28 intj i rhichis screwed the threadedend of the connectingrodC. 'Theiplates 25 are formed wlth ce/ff cover platesaref secured together by suite it "Ca e,bcltsffi whi h me th o gh, "ears 2 arcuate slots-.29 which register with the hole:

22*and' which-are for a purposeto be described;

The actuating arm ordinarily provided:

upongthe steering 'post is removed and replaced'byj an arm 30 fo'rmedw'ith a hole receives a lateral finger 31 o'na crank secured upon theiree'end of the shaft mema st 1 I 1 4a In the operation of this form of the, device it will be seen'thatwhen theflst'eerlng post is turned in the usual manner the-arm 30 carried thereby engaging the finger 31 on the arm 32 will cause rotation of the shaft member 18 and rotation of the disk 21 keyed to the shaft. As the point of securing the shaft within the disk is eccentrical ofthe latter it is quite apparent that the rotary movement of the disk will causeithe housing or shell formed by the parts 24: and 25 to move laterally with respect to the frame of the machine so that the steering rod C will be moved longitudinally to effect turningv of the front wheels of the vehicle In Figures 7 to 10 I have shown my device used in connection with that type of vehicle in which steering is effected by'means of a longitudinallymovable rodF connected with the steering arm G carried by one of the spindles, both. spindles "being connected for simultaneous movementby the usual steering rod connecting arm Vehicles of this-type'are equippedwith a steering post 'I'carrying a steering wheel J and; also carrying some type of worm or gear connection for moving the'rodF.

Inadapting my invention to this type of vehicle, I provide abracket 10 suitably secured to one of the frame bars K and formed with'a bearing 41 through which is journaled a shaft 42 upon one end of whichis secured a bevel gear 13 meshing with a bevel gear 4 4 on the steering post I. Keyed on the other end of this shaft 4 2'is the disk121 operating within the housing or shell formed by the side plates 25 and ring 24 the con-' struction being identically the same as in the above described form except for the mounting. Instead of having the steering rod di rectly connected in the socket 28 I provide an intermediate rod 45 which has one end screwedinto this socket and which hasits other end provided with a conventional ball and socket connection 46 011 the rod F. The rear end of the rod F is supported by being provided witha socket member 47 engaging u'pon'a-ball head 48 formed'on a crank arm 49 which is pivoted at 50 011 a bracket 51 secured'to theframe bar K. The purpose of this arm 49 is; mere'ly to support'tlie rear end of therod Eat all'times regardless ofthe degree of movement.

In the operation of this formit will be seen that when the steering post is turned by means of the steering wheel the gear at will rotate the gear 4-3 and disk 21. Owing to the eccentric mounting of this disk upon its shaft 12 it is apparent that the disk will exert a cam or eccentric action on its shell sothat the rod F may be moved lengthwise to accomplish steering of the vehicle.

From the foregoing description and a study ofthe drawings it will be apparent that I have thus provided a simply constructed and consequently inexpensive steering gear which will be easy to install and which hasproved to be extremely efficient inasmuch as steering is easily accomplished without fatigue and nerve strain especially owing to the fact that ordinary obstructions such as ruts, sand and the like have no effect upon'the'front wheels. a

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention itis of course to be understood that I reserve the right to make suchchanges in the form, construction and arrangement of parts as will not depart from the spirit of the invention or the' scope of the subjoined claim.

Having thus described ,my invention I claim:

The combination with a vehicle frame and a transversely shiftable steering gear bar, ofa bracket secured to the frame and provided with an opening, a bushing threaded in the opening, a shaft rotatably supported in the bushing, a disc mounted on the shaft to rotate therewith the shaft having its upper end projecting above the disc, an annulus encircling the disc and adapted to be shifted by the latter, an operative connection between the annulus and transversely shiftable steering gear bar, a crank shaft carried by the upper end of the shaft and including an upstanding arm, a steering gear'post, laterally extending arms carried by the lower end thereof and provided with an opening which receives the upper end of the upstanding arm, and a nut threaded upon the lower end of the first mentioned shaft.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature. OVID M. JACKSON, 

